From the Japan Times about CATs, with no tail, in Japan
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?ek20050317wh.htm

By ALICE GORDENKER

question

Dear Alice,
I'm crazy about cats but my landlady won't allow pets. I've tried to make
nice with the neighborhood nora-neko (alley cats) but, to be honest, their
stumpy twisted tails gross me out. What the heck is that, anyway? Some kind
of infection? My landlady claims Japanese people don't like tails on cats so
they tie strings around kittens' tails to make 'em fall off. Tell me it
ain't so!

Ingrid S., Saitama

ANSWER

It's not true, Ingrid. Although many cats in Japan do indeed have
abbreviated tails, it's not caused by disease or mutilation. The short tail
is a genetic trait common in many parts of Asia, including coastal China.



Cats first came to Japan more than a thousand years ago, probably as mousers
on Chinese ships. They had no trouble finding work on Japanese farms, where
they were used to protect rice and silkworms from vermin. Others took jobs
in Buddhist temples, persuading mice not to eat the religious scrolls.

To answer your question, I tracked down Kyoto University professor emeritus
Ken Nozawa, who spent several decades studying the genetic makeup of feral
cat groups. He estimates that 30 to 40 percent of Japanese street cats have
short tails, with significant geographical variation. Shiga Prefecture, for
example, has relatively few short-tailed cats, while Nagasaki, where much of
the early trade with China took place, has a lot.

Nozawa-sensei and I were having a great interview until I asked if the gene
for short tails is yusei (dominant) or ressei (recessive), a misstep because
my Japanese is not up to scientific discussions. He lost me, and fast.

So I called my friend Abby, who by happy coincidence has both a PhD in
genetics and a thing for cats with short tails. She listened to what little
I had understood, and explained that Prof. Nozawa had said that tail length
in Japanese feral cats is under the control of many genes, each having such
a small effect that a cat with a mutation in just one (or even several) of
the genes would have a normal long tail. It's only when a cat has the
mutation in all the genes that you get the fully stunted tail. So it would
seem, Ingrid, that your neighborhood has some seriously mutated meow-meows.

While I tend to agree that a cat doesn't seem fully feline unless it has a
long swisher, some folks value those stubby tails. In 1968, an American cat
breeder named Elizabeth Freret got her hands on three short-tailed kittens
from Japan and started an effort to get them recognized as a new breed.

Her work paid off -- since 1976, the Cat Fanciers' Association has
recognized descendents of these and subsequent imports as a championship
breed called the Japanese Bobtail. Show cats' tails must fit categories with
names like "shaving brush" and "clown's pompom." Pretty la-di-da for the
offspring of mixed-breed farm cats.

To round off my research, I consulted my 10-year-old's encyclopedia of
kotowaza (proverbs). The Japanese language is rich in expressions
thatinvolve cats, my favorite being "neko o kaburu" (put a cat on one's
head), which means to feign innocence. I figured there was a good chance
we'd find some proverb about cats' tails, and sure enough, we did. It's
"attemo nakutemo neko no shippo" (have or have not, a cat's tail) and is
used to describe something so unimportant it doesn't matter whether you have
it or not.

So there you have it, Ingrid. Or not.

The Japan Times: March 17, 2005
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?ek20050317wh.htm




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